Pakistan remembers Quetta lawyers killed in terror attack last year

QUETTA: On August 8, 2016, the streets of Balochistan were painted red in the most barbaric terrorist activity to be ever carried out against the intellectuals of a society which killed 70 and injured more than 130 people out of which 54 were lawyers.

Social networking site Facebook activated its “safety check” feature after the blast in Quetta.

Reminiscing the incident, Advocate Andaleeb Qaisarani, who received more than 20 wounds in the incident, said: “I remember I was in the court during a session when I received the news that Bilal has been martyred. I reached the hospital immediately. I was crying thinking that if our high court took action at the time of Barrister Amanullah and called on the IG, informed the police, this incident could have been prevented.

“Then all of a sudden a blast happened and everything ended in a split of a second. I had that much consciousness remaining that when I looked around at my friends, I could find no man standing.

“I, myself, found out after 2 weeks that who is alive and who is dead,” said the advocate.

Andaleeb had to undergo more than 10 operations for recovery from the wounds.

“That day was like hell for us. There are no health facilities by the government, no trauma centers. I would like to thank Raheela Durrani who got me operated under her supervision. If it wasn’t for her, I would not be alive today,” she said.

“Now, I am stronger than before, my beliefs have gotten stronger. My faith in Allah has increased. I used to walk very fast before but it is alright, I am stronger now,” she maintained.

The Quetta blast victim felt remorse over the government’s discontinuity of providing health.

“For 2-3 months the government got us treated in Agha Khan Hospital, Karachi, that also the Sindh government. But now, nobody is doing anything. I am doing everything on my own expense. Almost every month, I go to Islamabad or Agha Khan Hospital. Doctors have said one operation of mine will be done in Germany. But I and my colleagues are not getting any help from either the bar or the government of Balochistan.”

ISIS and TTP had claimed responsibility for the attack.

A suo motu action was taken by the Supreme Court after which a commission was formed which submitted a report in the SC. The Balochistan government rejected the report and the next hearing of it is on 12th of September.